Can We Please Put An End To The Fake "Rejected" Super Bowl Ads?

We're still more than two weeks out from the Big Game and we've
already seen two companies
bragging about their "rejected" Super Bowl ads that was "banned"
by FOX.

Did Ashley Madison really think that an ad where porn star
Savannah Samson strips down to her underwear and encourages
people to cheat on their spouse would cut it on the biggest event
of the TV year?

Of course, they didn't. That's the whole point.

Ashley Madison doesn't want their ad on the Super Bowl. They
deliberately made one that they knew would get turned down so
that they could brag to the world that they are "controversial"
and "too hot for TV." It's much cheaper that way.

Companies figured out years ago that the best brand strategy
isn't spending all your seed money on a Super Bowl ad. It's
manufacturing a non-existent controversy around your
Super Bowl ad, so that you get just as many people watching it at
a fraction of the price.

(That also happens to be GoDaddy.com's entire business
philosophy.)

Yes, it worked. We just wrote a post about Ashley Madison and
JesusHatesObama.com, right? But guess what? Women in lingerie and
political humor isn't too hot for TV or the Super Bowl. It's also
not funny and it sure isn't clever. (Though for some reason it's
usually sexist and/or gross, but that doesn't stop beer
commercials from making the cut.)

One thing it is, however, is the sign of a marketing department
without an original idea. Let's try something new, guys.